Climate Right International's Senior Advisor for the Americas, Daniel Wilkinson, expressed his support to Michoacán Governor Alfredo Ramírez, for companies and authorities in the United States to recognize the voluntary Pro-Forest Avocado certification, which aims to combat deforestation.

Climate Right defends human rights and environmental causes. In a meeting led by Ramírez, the organization expressed interest in supporting the state's certification program. 

This program promotes good cultivation, production, and export practices, as well as avocado marketing. The governor and the Secretary of the Environment, Alejandro Méndez, had informed Wilkinson that the voluntary certification and the Guardian Forestal satellite surveillance system aims to regularize illegal avocado orchards and repair forest damage.

Related articles: Growers turn to Fair Trade USA to address deforestation in avocado industry

The voluntary Pro-Forest Avocado certification came into effect in Michoacán in late August 2024, covering 49,118 orchards spanning 366,000 acres dedicated to avocado exports. This certification will allow the state and its producers to comply with international trade standards and combat deforestation caused by irregular avocado planting.

Wilkinson described these initiatives as positive, noting that certification represents a regulatory mechanism for the avocado industry. He emphasized the importance of ensuring that avocados imported to the United States do not come from deforested land.

"We must find a way to support this process to make it mandatory for producers and stop buying avocados from deforested orchards in the United States as of 2018," Wilkinson said.

The Global Avocado Summit organized by the Chile Avocado Committee and Yentzen Group will be held on November 21 at the Casino Monticello event center.